THE BALLOONS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 34, 19 December 1879, Page 3

THE BALLOONS.

Professor King has been interviewed by a reporter on the New York Express, and the following is his view of the possibilities of the balloon :— " The balloon is condemned by many, and justly so, because there are those who claim for it impossibilities It can only be used and valued for what it is worth to science. It will never be used as a carrier in the strict sense, because a^hkt is impracticable ; but for scientific research it is the only means we have oi studying the higher regions and learning about the upper currents — about the formation of rair and snow and the action of storms It is the only thing by which we cai * reach a point in the heavens clear o the earth ; and for these purposes i is invaluable. The duy will neve come when balloons will be made t> navigate the air against the currents That can never be done by flyinj machines having momentum, whic] * a balloon is without. "You canno

throw a tuft against the wiud, for ih< reason that it has no resistance. Th< balloon's mission is scientific in several Jways. You know, in case ol war, it has been very ireful in es< caping froni besieged cities, like Paris, for iustance, and for military operations is the only way you have of looking into the enemies' fortifications with impunity, It is also valuable for looking down int.o deep water. I had an offer made to me once to float over Lake Eyrie and search fur a steamer that had sunk in a storm. From a balloon you can loi'k'down to 'the bottom of vory deep water, because you are away far enough to overcome tho reflection of sky. From my balloon here I can sto the channels the boa's taka to Rockawiy very clearly. I have not the least doubt that the air will be navigated by a flying machine, but it will have to fly better than a bird flios, tbe same as a ship swims better than a fish ; that is. the ship will carry a thousand passengers and a heavy cargo and go through the water very swiftly, whilo a .fish has all ie can do to tako caro of itself. The flying machine will hive wide, strong wings, and will bo propelled by some great foree — it may bo nitro-glycoriue, it may be gunpowder, and it may be hydrogen and oxygen gas, or it may b«3 something else that will give it momentum ; but, whatever it is, it will be light and compact, so that a handful of it, so to speak, will last a whole day. A base biill travels when hit with a bat, and, if there should ba a fly oa iti surface, it would carry its passenger. You know how nicely a piece of card board can be shied through the air The flying machine will operate on something like the same principle, but balloons will never be used for the purpose, being, as I said before, \ without momentum."

A Hay Back. — The American Agriculturist thus Qescrißes a nick for f cediug hay, &c. : — A Western farmer Bends his plan of making a rack for feeding hay. These racks are largely used iv tho "West, where hay is cheap and labor is dear ; they are found convenient, and Bavo both trouble and loss of fodder. The rack U made as follows :— Stout posta are set in the ground, about nine feet apart, to suit the length of the rails used ; stout posts are then placed about six inches insido of the first mentioned posts, one for each, and the two are connected together by two-inch pins driven through auger holes in each, in the same manner as in making a straight pest and rail fence. The pin is placed two feet from the ground. Bails are then placed between the posts, and resting upon the pins, and other rails aro laid on these, to make a flcor. The ends and sides of the rack are built up with rails as in makinsr a fence, putting cross pieces in where necessary. An opening on each Bide for feeding is made by putting in pins about two feet above tho first ones, and the rails are built up to eight feet high from the ground, to make a receptacle for hay, of sufficient capacity to hold two or three days' feeding. Backs of this kind may be built in fields for feeding corn-fodder, or in yards for feeding green crops, and may be made as iiscful in all cattle-raisinjf regions as in the West. They will ba found of much uso in feeding cows in pens, as in " cow penning " lots in the South, and indeed this practice of turning cows into a poor lot, and feeding them there with green food by menns of cuch racks, or others made in a similar way, may ba made of great utility in fertilising the soil at a small expense for labor. South Austhalian Hahvest.—Concerning the crops in South Australia, the Register, after mentioning that the rainfall during the present month exceeds the average of the last six or seven years, states : — " The prospects of the harvest con f inue to be very promising, and there is ground for hoping that the yield this season will be far above the average of fne past few years. It is reassuring to know that the average for 1572 3, notwithstanding the unusually heavy rainfiill in November was exceptionally high, being for wheat no less than 11 \ bushels to the acre, and for other farm products correspoudinerly pood. The harvest of 1875. when the November rains comparatively heavy, likewise an exceedingly (jatisfactory one."